Analysis of White Heliotrope

Arthur Symons 1865 (Milford Haven) – 1945



The feverish room and that white bed,
The tumbled skirts upon a chair,
The novel flung half-open where
Hat, hair-pins, puffs, and paints, are spread;

The mirror that has sucked your face
Into its secret deep of deeps,
And there mysteriously keeps
Forgotten memories of grace;

And you, half-dressed and half awake,
Your slant eyes strangely watching me,
And I, who watch you drowsily,
With eyes that, having slept not, ache;

This (need one dread? nay, dare one hope?)
Will rise, a ghost of memory, if
Ever again my handkerchief
Is scented with White Heliotrope.


Scheme ABBA CCXC DXXD EFFE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 010010111 01010101 01011101 11110111 01011111 01110111 0110001 01010011 01110101 11110101 011111 11110111 11111111 110111001 10011100 11011100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 556
Words 98
Sentences 4
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 110
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
117

Arthur Symons

Arthur William Symons, was a British poet, critic and magazine editor. more…

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